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NEW INTEL REPORT ON RUSSIAN MEDDLING: The Intelligence Community was correct in its assessment of Russian meddling in the lead-up to the 2016 elections, a bipartisan report released by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday concluded.
The report, which is the fourth of an expected five volumes to emerge from the committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections, digs into the Intelligence Community’s Assessment (ICA) of Russian active measures used to sway the election.
The assessment, made public in early 2017 shortly before President Obama left office, concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin “ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election,” and that there was a “clear preference” for now-President Trump to win the election on the part of the Russians.
The committee concluded that the ICA “presents a coherent and well-constructed intelligence basis for the case of unprecedented Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election,” and that all analysts involved in compiling the ICA were under no pressure to come to a specific conclusion.
Steele Dossier addressed: The panel also concluded that information provided to analysts by Christopher Steele, a former MI6 agent who compiled opposition research against Trump, was not used to reach any conclusions in the ICA.
Lawmakers’ message: Committee leaders warned that Russian interference in the 2016 elections could easily happen again during the presidential elections later this year, an issue that government officials and experts have increasingly warned may be a problem.
SENATOR PRESSES APPLE, GOOGLE: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent letters to Apple and Google on Tuesday urging the tech giants to make their CEOs personally liable for data collected in their joint coronavirus contact-tracing project.
The two tech giants announced earlier this month that they would be creating a voluntary contact-tracing network using Bluetooth Low Energy transmissions.
The software would use the signals to track individuals that participants who have opted-in to the program have been in contact with, and then notify those people if they’ve come near someone who tests positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Privacy alarm: Critics have raised concerns about potential risks to privacy from the project.
Apple and Google have included many checks for those concerns, but for Hawley those are not enough.
Hawley’s message: “If you seek to assure the public, make your stake in this project personal,” he wrote to Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai. “Make a commitment that you and other executives will be personally liable if you stop protecting privacy, such as by granting advertising companies access to the interface once the pandemic is over.”
FACEBOOK CHALLENGED BY PROTESTS: Demonstrations against stay-at-home orders are presenting a new challenge for Facebook in its efforts to combat misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic.
The social media giant is allowing the groups to operate Facebook event pages in some states, while taking down content in others. A spokesperson for the company told The Hill it’s taking its cue from state governments on whether to remove pages and factoring in federal guidelines on social distancing.
In the past week, a string of small rallies — featuring between dozens and hundreds of demonstrators — have popped up across the country to protest state orders to stay at home, close nonessential businesses and restrict travel in an effort to curb the coronavirus.
Many of those demonstrations, which have involved individuals violating social distancing guidelines, have been organized on Facebook.
Facebook taking some down: But a company spokesperson said Facebook is doing its part by taking down event pages in states like California, Nebraska and New Jersey after consulting with governors about their stay-at-home orders.
“We reached out to state officials to understand the scope of their orders, not about removing specific protests on Facebook,” the spokesperson said. “We remove the posts when gatherings do not follow the health parameters established by the government and are therefore unlawful.”
Conservative condemnation: “Why is @Facebook colluding with state governments to quash peoples free speech?” Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, tweeted. “Regardless of what you think about the lockdowns or the protests against them, this is a chilling & disturbing government directed shutdown of peoples 1st Amendment rights. Very dangerous!”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), an outspoken critic of Silicon Valley, quote-tweeted news of the removals, asking: “Because free speech is now illegal America?”
Authenticity questioned: Many of the largest groups organizing the events are run by four brothers with a history of creating anti-gun control and anti-abortion groups, suggesting many of the demonstrations are not organic but rather driven by conservative activists, according to The Washington Post and NBC News.
The groups set up by Chris, Ben, Aaron and Matthew Dorr have reportedly amassed more than 200,000 members collectively, including in states where they don’t reside.
NEW INTERNET ACCESS BILL: Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) introduced legislation Tuesday aimed at ensuring that students have access to the internet amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Emergency Educational Connections Act of 2020 would create a special $2 billion fund for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to disburse for schools and libraries to buy Wi-Fi hotspots, routers and internet connected devices.
“COVID-19 has forced over 55 million students to stay home during this national health crisis and adjust to a new future that requires internet access and a computer to continue their studies,” Meng, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement.
“Today, with schools across the country having moved learning entirely online, including class meetings, explanations of new content, virtual field trips, homework, and learning exercises, this gap seems more like a chasm. Students without internet service will fall further behind as students with internet service at home can continue advancing in their studies. Whether they live in urban centers, suburbs, or exurbs, or small communities in rural America, all students require internet connectivity to succeed during this pandemic.”
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) tweeted Tuesday that he would be introducing companion legislation in the Senate. The Hill has reached out to the Massachusetts lawmaker’s office for more information on his planned bill.
TIKTOK TARGETED AGAIN: Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) introduced legislation Tuesday that would send consumers warnings before they download applications developed in countries considered national security risks.
If passed, the bill would mean that users would be alerted about alleged risks of downloading the hugely popular short-form video platform TikTok, which is linked to Chinese company ByteDance.
Users would also be notified if trying to download FaceApp, a product with ties to Russia that saw significant use last summer.
“Some phone apps are fun and useful, others are counterintelligence threats,” Banks said in a statement.
“Americans should know which is which before they hit the download button. Parents and consumers have a right to a warning that by downloading some apps like Russia’s FaceApp or China’s TikTok, their data may be used against the United States by an adversarial or enemy regime.”
In addition to Russia and China, apps from Venezuela, Syria, Sudan, Iran and North Korea would have warnings attached to them.
SBA PORTAL COMPROMISED: Nearly 8,000 small businesses that applied for the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program had their information exposed to other applicants on the agency’s loan application site.
“Personal identifiable information of a limited number of Economic Injury Disaster Loan applicants was potentially exposed to other applicants on SBA’s loan application site,” a senior administration official told CNBC. “We immediately disabled the impacted portion of the website, addressed the issue and relaunched the application portal.”
The EIDL program is different from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The PPP requires small businesses to work with banks and credit unions to access the money, but the EIDL program is a direct loan that businesses apply for from the SBA. The loan can be up to $10,000 and doesn’t have to be paid back.
Lighter click: Tucci gang fr fr
An op-ed to chew on: How human-centered tech can beat COVID-19 through contact tracing
NOTABLE LINKS FROM AROUND THE WEB:
People Are Making Bots to Snatch Whole Foods Delivery Order Time Slots (Motherboard / Joseph Cox)
EPIC director leaves after backlash over handling of COVID-19 test (Protocol / Issie Lapowsky)
The Company Running An Oregon Online Coronavirus Symptom Tracker Now Says It Won’t Sell Your Data To Advertisers (BuzzFeed News / Caroline Haskins)
The new speakeasy: Uber Eats has turned into a rogue cocktail bar (Washington Post / Faiz Sidduiqi)